Phoenix Suns

Dragic's 32 leads Suns to 112-88 rout of Knicks

New York Knicks' Pablo Prigioni (9), of Argentina, defends as Phoenix Suns' Eric Bledsoe drives during the second half of an NBA basketball game, Friday, March 28, 2014, in Phoenix. The Suns won 112-88. (AP Photo/Matt York)

PHOENIX -- Goran Dragic scored 32 points in 32 minutes and the Phoenix Suns routed the New York Knicks 112-88 on Friday night for their season-high sixth victory in a row.

Eric Bledsoe added 16 points, seven rebounds and six assists, Markieff Morris scored 16 and Miles Plumlee had 11 points and 12 rebounds for the Suns, who led by 22 at halftime and 32 in the third quarter.

Carmelo Anthony scored 21, seven below his season average, and Amare Stoudemire 19 for the Knicks, blown out for the second time in three games on their five-game western trip.

With Memphis' loss at Golden State, Phoenix pulled a half-game ahead of the Grizzlies for the No. 7 playoff spot in the West. The Suns are a game ahead of Dallas. The Knicks fell two games behind Atlanta for the eighth spot in the East.

Dragic, who scored 18 in the first quarter, returned to start the second half after getting five stitches to repair a cut just above the left eye, the result of a second-quarter collision with Tyson Chandler's massive arm.

Phoenix's streak is its longest since the Suns won 10 straight four years ago.

The smaller Suns dominated the boards 56-37 and had a 46-24 advantage in points in the paint.

It wasn't quite as bad for the Knicks as their 127-96 embarrassment against the Lakers in Los Angeles on Tuesday night, but it wasn't close after the first 1 1/2 quarters.

The Suns, a season-high 15 games above .500, outscored the Knicks 24-6 over the final 8:49 of the half to lead 62-40 at the break.

Most of the run occurred without Dragic, who took a swipe to the face from the arm of Chandler and got a cut over his left eye. Dragic had 20 at the half on 8-for-10 shooting, including 3-of-4 on 3s.

Phoenix shot 52 percent in the first half to New York's 39 percent. The Suns were 8-of-20 on first-half 3s, the Knicks 4 of 13. The smaller Suns even outrebounded New York in the first two quarters 26-17.

Anthony, the No. 2 scorer in the NBA at 28.2 points per game, had 10 in the first half on 4-of-10 shooting.

Things got worse for New York early in the third quarter. Dragic made two 3s and Bledsoe one to put the Suns up 78-47 and Plumlee's reverse jam on an alley-oop pass from Bledsoe made it 82-50 with 6:40 left in the period, Phoenix's biggest lead against anyone this season. But New York finished the quarter with a 13-4 run to reduce the lead to 88-66 entering the fourth.

The Knicks cut it to 92-75 in the fourth quarter, leading Suns coach Jeff Hornacek to put Dragic and Bledsoe back in the game. The lead quickly expanded to 104-75 on Plumlee's rebound dunk with six minutes to play.

NOTES: Tim Boven, an engineer at Honeywell from suburban Peoria, won $77,777 by sinking a shot from halfcourt during a second-quarter timeout. ... Stoudemire played in Phoenix for only the second time since leaving the Suns following the 2010 season. ... Morris drew his 13th technical foul of the season. ... Phoenix is 20-10 against Eastern Conference foes.